Open Source CLI Tools
Discover 284 open source CLI repositories from GitHub, each with an analysis of what it does, key features, use cases and alternatives. CLI projects here are most often combined with Developer Tools, AI Agents and Python. Last updated October 4, 2026.
284 repositories · updated October 4, 2026
nodemon: Automatically Restart Node.js Apps on File Changes
nodemon watches application files and restarts the running process when changes are detected. It helps Node.js developers shorten the edit-and-test loop without changing their application code.
mapscii: Explore Vector Maps in a Terminal
MapSCII renders OpenStreetMap-based vector tiles as Braille and ASCII in an interactive terminal map. It suits people who want lightweight map exploration from a console, or developers experimenting with vector-tile sources and styles.
cargo-binstall: Install Rust Tools from Prebuilt Binaries
cargo-binstall finds and installs prebuilt binaries for Rust crates, reducing the wait and build requirements of cargo install. It is useful for developers and CI jobs when a compatible release artifact is available, with source installation as a fallback.
qwen-code: Use AI Agents to Work on Code
Qwen Code is an AI coding agent for working with repositories through a terminal and other interfaces. It supports multiple model providers and can also be used from editors, desktop, web, chat, scripts, or SDKs.
toon: Compact JSON Data for LLM Prompts
TOON is a lossless, human-readable encoding of JSON designed to reduce prompt token use, especially for uniform records. Its TypeScript SDK and CLI convert between JSON and TOON, with format-specific trade-offs documented in the repository.
darkflare: Tunnel TCP Traffic Through a CDN
DarkFlare is a Go client-server tool that carries TCP connections through HTTP(S) requests routed via a CDN. It is intended for authorized access to TCP services across restrictive networks, with encryption for sensitive traffic supplied separately.
fish-shell: Use a Friendly Interactive Command-Line Shell
fish is an interactive shell for macOS, Linux, and other platforms. It makes common command-line work easier with syntax highlighting, autosuggestions, and useful completions enabled by default.
lipgloss: Style and Layout for Terminal Interfaces
Lip Gloss is a Go library for styling terminal output and composing text-based layouts. It suits developers building command-line tools and terminal user interfaces who want reusable styles, color handling, and layout helpers without implementing terminal rendering themselves.
mantis: Automate Attack Surface Discovery and Security Scanning
Mantis is a Python command-line framework for discovering assets, running reconnaissance, and scanning for vulnerabilities, secrets, misconfigurations, and phishing domains. It is suited to product security teams managing organization-wide attack surfaces.
freeze: Create Images of Code and Terminal Output
Freeze turns source code and terminal output into polished PNG, SVG, or WebP images. It suits developers who need consistent visuals for documentation, tutorials, presentations, or sharing command-line results.
EasyTier: Build Decentralized Mesh VPNs
EasyTier connects devices across networks through a decentralized virtual private network, with NAT traversal and optional relay nodes. It suits people who need private connectivity between remote devices or subnets without relying on a centralized VPN service.
podcastfy: Turn Multimodal Sources Into AI Podcasts
Podcastfy is a Python package and CLI for turning websites, PDFs, images, YouTube videos, and topics into multilingual conversational audio. It suits developers and creators who want to customize or automate podcast generation with hosted or local language models.